against the grain
by Lolitaxo
Summary: A series of moments. klaus/caroline


Klaus like to play games.

It's something of a specialty of his, she thinks, but Caroline can't help but wonder what kind of game it is he's playing with her. He's all charm and romantic gestures, making her feel as if she's the beautiful princess that secretly she always dreamed of being, but there's just something in the way he looks at her that makes Caroline shiver.

She believes him when he says he enjoys her- because, seriously, who doesn't enjoy her?- but refuses to acknowledge his desires to really get to know her. She lets him see nothing more than what she pretends to be- superficial, fickle and, yes, maybe even a little brazen- because all of this is what he wants to see.

Klaus likes Caroline because she presents him a challenge and he thinks that in the end, he'll win her over because he's Klaus the big bad hybrid and she's Caroline, silly little high school cheerleader with no experience of anything outside of Mystic Falls. He thinks he knows her, can predict her every move before she even makes it and, yes, that's what Caroline leads him to believe because, in the end, it's convenient for them both.

So she throws him a few sarky comments when he approaches her, wiggles her hips with a little extra zest when she's walking away from him and pretends that all of his romantic sketches and expensive presents don't make her feel like a queen.

( they do though, they really do )

Klaus gets his delusions; Caroline gets the satisfaction of knowing she's managed to pull one over on the 'all-knowing-hybrid'.

It's all good.

Until it isn't, of course.

And, lets be realistic, in Mystic Falls the likely-hood of anything ever going according to plan is slim at best.

Just ask the Salvatore brothers.

-0-

She asks him one night, after he's snuck into her room- a terrible habit he's acquired and one that she can't seem to squash, no matter how many times she tells him he's like her very own a half-assed version of Edward Cullen- what it is he's hoping to achieve by 'wooing' her.

"Nothing," he replies, not once letting his eyes stray from the book on his lap- which, by the way he'd hoked from her meager supply on the top shelf of her wardrobe, "Nothing other than my own satisfaction."

Then he smirks at the page, turning it with delicate fingers, and proceeds on with ignoring Caroline for the rest of the night until he's finished it. She, for the most part, spends the evening confused. She stares at him, eyes raking over ever detail of his pristine features and feels frustration rise in her chest when she can find no plausible explanation to his reply.

What the hell is wrong with him? Why can't he just give her a straight answer for once?

She huffs loudly and one side of Klaus' mouth quirks slightly.

Whatever. It's not like she even cares about him and his cryptic lines anyway- he's just a means to an end.

"You suck." she informs him peevishly, tucking her feet under her as she turns her back to him and switches on the television- she turns it up as loud as it can go without disturbing the neighbors.

Klaus appears non-pulsed. He kicks his shoes off, gets into a more comfortable position on the bed, and continues to read the damned book with even more concentration than he had before.

Needless to say, Caroline doesn't read The Hunger Games for many a year after that little stunt.

-0-

"Do you have a particular fondness of making me look like a fool, Caroline?"

He's angry, really angry and the worst thing is that she has no idea why. She blinks up at him from where she's situated on the libraries carpeted floor, books scattered around her at random, and frowns when she see's the furious glint in his blue eyes.

"Well," she says mildly, eyes dropping back to the lines of equations on her lap, "someone woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning."

She's not fooling him- hell, she's not fooling herself- the tremor in both her hands as she turns the page and her voice as she attempts banter is unmistakable to both of them.

Damn, she thinks with a groan. Well, there goes her dreams of being alive when robots rule over humanity.

Klaus stalks towards her, avoiding the obstacle of books with an ease that's admirable and snarls at her when she makes no move to acknowledge him. If there's one thing she's learned about him in the short period of time that he'd been stalking her, it's that he hates to be ignored. Caroline's been working hard to perfect the art, but has yet to see any noticeable results- Klaus isn't a presence you can really ignore with ease.

"The Salvatore attempted to kill my sister today," he hisses at her and his blue eyes are glowing with malice when she finally kicks up the courage to look at him, "I don't suppose you would know anything about this, hmm?"

Sweet baby Jesus, she thinks in exasperation, those idiots!

She doesn't know anything about this- why doesn't she know anything about this?!- but she's willing to be from the stiffness in Klaus' posture that he's going to pin the blame solely on her anyway.

Of course he is, because somehow it always seems to be Caroline's fault when someone tries to kill him and his family.

She sighs, brushing the book off her lap, and stands to her full height. Klaus is taller than her- not by much, but enough that she has to tilt her head a little to look at him- but she's too angry to be intimidated and the fact that he could rip her head of without blinking really doesn't cross her mind. She's become too comfortable around him and, if that were one of his goals, then he should get pat on the back and a bloody metal for his victory.

"Actually, Klaus, " she informs him with a snarl, "I don't know anything about this. As it is, I've been too busy trying to get my freaking algebra grades up to scratch so that I can graduate high school to be plotting to kill you and your psychotic family!"

She's whisper-shouting at this stage and, yes dammit, she knows she shouldn't be doing it in a library but Klaus has crossed a line- one that she wasn't aware even existed between them until today- and she refuses to go down quietly.

Breathing heavily, she side steps an open book and jabs him in the chest.

"You have no right to be angry at me, none! I've made it clear to you from the start that, when it comes down to it, I'll choose Elena and the rest of my friends over you in a heart beat if I need to. This thing," she gestures between them, "whatever it is, I didn't instigate it- you did. So, whatever comes out of it, on your own head be it. Just don't blame me for your mistakes."

In the aftermath of her little rant, Caroline isn't quite as confident as she was when she'd first went into it. Not that anything she's said was a lie exactly, nor was it anything that Klaus didn't already know. They just hadn't... spoken about it until now.

His face is a picture; mouth ajar, eyes wide, hell, his head is even cocked a little to the side.

Caroline shifts uncomfortably under his stare, cheeks flushing a little as the silence between them stretches on. She can hear a couple in the corner making out and it strikes her odd that she and Klaus are having an argument while they, not even six feet away from them, are so loved up.

Not that she even remotely thinks of Klaus that way- ew, no, of course not- but still. It's weird.

"I have to study," she says eventually and turns away from him because, seriously, there's only so much tension she can take. Her legs feel rubbery as she walks back to her little den in the middle of the floor and she realizes just how flushed her cheek are when she sits down and presses the back of her hand against them.

Damn vampire. If studying had seemed unappealing before, it was near impossible now. Still, she dutifully pulls one of the books back onto her lap and bows her head over it, eyes listlessly scanning over the lines of equations and letters. She knows that she won't be able to concentrate now, that Klaus will be on her brain indefinably, but she tries anyway.

"Algebra always was a loathsome subject to learn."

She glances up, eyes wide and, of course, he's stood there. His own eyes are trained on the book in her lap and, as he sits beside her, he makes room for himself by swiping at the disarray of textbooks with the back of his hand. Caroline watches him warily as he plucks the small hard back from her hands and examines it with furrowed brows, "Loathsome, but learn-able."

He shoots her a side-long glance and gives her a lop-sided grin, "What say you, love? Would you like me to be your algebra tutor?"

And just like that, he's brushed her earlier comments under the mat. Caroline stares at him, torn between throwing a book at his thick skull and giving him a hug. Instead of doing either, she nods dumbly and watches as he turns from teasing to serious in an instant.

Talk about bi-polar vamps.

"Alright, so, to find the value of X you have to..."

-0-

Needless to say, she spends most of the hour of his 'tutoring' watching Klaus' face as he explains formula's to her instead of actually learning.

-0-

"I don't understand."

Caroline glances at him from her perch on the swings. They're in the deserted local park- Klaus' request, oddly enough, not hers- and while she had opted for the obvious choice of the swings, Klaus is resting on top of the jungle gym, legs dangling from the side of it.

He's staring at her, eyebrows furrowed slightly and Caroline doesn't like the feeling she gets in her stomach when she notices how utterly vulnerable, how human he looks perched on top of a children's play thing, sun shining down on him; making his blonde curls look like a halo of sorts and his blue eyes practically glow. She's never been the poetic type, but fuck if Klaus doesn't make her want to be.

Instead of voicing her thoughts however, she clears her throat and shoot him a harassed look.

"You don't understand what, exactly? Why we're hanging out in an empty park? Heck," she scoffs and runs a hand through her hair, tugging at the blonde locks slightly, "Why we're hanging out at all?"

Klaus looks wary of her and, dammit, yes she knows she shouldn't have said anything but it's beginning to get to her; this thing of there's that is yet to be defined.

It's not a friendship, it's not a relationship- shit, it's not even a flirtationship but it's something of a mixture of between the three. Klaus seeks her out, convinces her to come with him to one of his completely random destinations (i.e: the local park) and, more than not lately, Caroline has found herself going with him without even putting up much of a fight.

She figures the lack of sex- because, Tyler, a relationship over the phone is just not a fruitful one- and increase of killing vampires, werewolves and even the occasional crazy human with sharp objects- and sometimes even her bare hands- has clouded her sense of judgement. Plus, Klaus is nice to her. So sue her for craving a little attention.

"Actually, I was referring to the lack of anything to do in this pitiful excuse of a playground, " He looks scandalized as he glances around the park, "There is not even any of those contraptions, you know, the ones you swing from?"

Caroline thinks she chokes, but she's not sure. She's mainly too preoccupied with wondering if Klaus- the indestructible hybrid Klaus- realizes that he's just cried blasphemy due to the absence of monkey bars in a park. The mind boggles, it really does.

"You're ridiculous," she says and, despite herself, lets out a spontaneous giggle.

Klaus looks triumphant and flashes her a cheeky grin.

"All in matter of perspective, love." he winks at her, "Oh, and Caroline?"

She waves him off for a moment, pushing her feet against the asphalt as she swings herself higher and higher until it feels like she's flying. She ignores Klaus' probing eyes and looses herself in the feeling, throwing her head back and laughing.

The wind is messing up her hair- which, in retrospect she should probably be a little more upset about since two hours in front of the mirror every morning isn't exactly easy going- but she can't seem to bring herself to care. She hasn't felt this free since she was a little girl, running around carelessly with Elena and Bonnie by her side. They would do everything together, she recalls fondly, but back then Caroline was always there leader. She made up all of the games they would play, the rules and everybody always wanted to play with her.

Then, of course, they left the playground behind them to move onto high school and suddenly things became a lot more complicated.

Caroline sighs and lets her feet drag against the floor, slowing her down until, eventually, she's completely still. Her breath is heavy- even though technically she doesn't need to breath anymore- but it somehow makes her feel more alive, more human. She closes her eyes, holds on tightly to the chains on either side of her and leans back, letting the sun warm her face.

"I used to be fun, you know." she says quietly, lips barely moving as she speaks.

She can't see Klaus, but she can hear the smirk in his voice, "I think you're fun just as you are, sweet Caroline."

Her stomach twists uncomfortably at his words. She thinks of Tyler- so rough and demanding, of Matt- so hesitant and careful, and thinks that, while she knows that she loves them both to death, she's also certain that they've never left her so tongue tied and conflicted with a mere sentence.

It's just her luck that the one guy who finally manages to leave her, Caroline Forbes the self-announced queen of snark with a fluttering heart and no words is also the guy she and her friends are plotting so vigorously to kill.

Caroline sighs.

Instead of answering, she straightens herself on the swing and turns her body to face him.

"What were you going to say before?"

Klaus' eyes are full of unspoken words as he smiles at her sweetly, flashing dimples.

"I was just going to point out that, yes, it's true that we're 'hanging out' in a deserted park, but..."

He scratches the back of his neck, looking sheepish and Caroline swears her heart stutters at the utter humanity of the gesture. His next words are soft, barely a whisper, but she hears them anyway. And, really, they as good as sign her heart way on a dotted line.

"There isn't anybody else that I'd rather be here with."

-0-

"I passed!"

"Caroline," Klaus' voice is heavy with sleep and, is it just her or does he sounds slightly annoyed?, "it's 2am in the morning. What on earth are you rambling on about?"

Caroline huffs and taps her fingernails irritably against the back of her phone. She's in her room and, yes, okay she's a little tipsy but her mom's on the late shift (when isn't she?) and, come on, she had reason to celebrate!

"I know I should have called you first," she hiccups into the speaker, "but I went to The Grill for a few drinks with some friends. Forgive me?"

She giggles and flops back into her pillows, stifling a yawn.

"Darling, are you drunk?"

She shakes her head furiously even though Klaus can't see her.

"Nooo, of course not," her eyes close and she smiles, "you're a good teacher, Klaus. I don't give you enough credit."

He chuckles, voice warm. "I'm assuming you mean you passed your algebra test."

Caroline nods again, "Yes!" she murmurs, voice drowsy.

"I never doubted you, love."

His voice is warm and sweet. Why does he have to have such a lovey voice? Caroline yawns again.

"Thanks..." her voice fades.

"Caroline?" he asks softly, "Darling?"

But it's too late.

She's already asleep.

-0-

"We've found a way to kill Klaus."

Caroline's nursing a hangover from hell. Seriously, if feels as though thousands of small Damon's have crawled into her brain and are sticking her with tiny splinters of wood. Repeatedly.

The revelation that her scooby gang have found away to kill Klaus? Yeah, so not helping.

She looks at Elena with bleary eyes, trying to mirror the joy on her friends face as she informs Caroline of the White Oak stake they'd gotten their hands on and the perfect plan they'd already formulated, but she doesn't know how well it works for her.

She feels nothing but numb horror as she glances around the room; taking in Stefan's satisfied smirk, Damon's relieved stance as he eyes Elena, and Bonnie... well, she just looks bored. Too many failed attempts for her to believe this one is real, Caroline supposes.

It is real, though, somehow she knows this. Without a doubt, she knows that they will succeed this time.

"Well, it's about time." she stands, rolling her eyes, "Call me when you need me. For now, I'm going to go hunt down some aspirin."

She ignores them when they call out her name, walking to the boarding houses front door with a new found purpose.

-0-

Traitor. You're such a traitor!

Caroline grits her teeth and brings her knuckles down on the door, desperately trying to block out the little voice in her head. Her stomach is churning, fleetingly reminding her of the time when she'd came down with the stomach flu when she'd been eleven- not pretty, she can assure you- and she can't seem to get the image of Elena's doe brown eyes out of her head. She's going to be so angry at her, but in time she'll forgive her. Caroline's certain of this because, at the end of the day, Elena's a do-gooder. She can't help it, it's in her nature.

The thought makes her feel even more sick with guilt.

"Caroline," Klaus is stood at the door, surprise and delight evident as he looks at her, "What are you doing here?"

She shakes her head and pushes past him, "I shouldn't be here. Damon would kill me if he knew."

She stalks into the living room and immediately makes her way towards the roaring fire. The flames warm her icy skin, lap over her in waves of delicious heat and it soothes her a little.

"What's going on?"

There's a steely undercurrent to his voice and, when Caroline looks up at him, his arms are crossed over his chest and he looks fierce. This isn't the Klaus who had been courting her so persistently, no, this is the Klaus who means business.

Caroline gulps and averts her eyes.

"They've found away," she says faintly, "A way to kill you."

Silence.

Klaus is still- she's watching him from the corner of her eye because, hey, self preservation and all that jazz- and you can literally hear a pin drop in the room. Absently, she notes that Klaus- though he, too, has no need for it- breathes too. Somehow, it makes her feel a little less guilty.

Well, marginally.

"And yet you're here, telling me of there plans," he says eventually, voice cautious, "Even though you've informed me that, when it comes down to it, you will always choose your friends above me."

God, twist the knife a little deeper why don't you?

Caroline glares.

"Yes, I am. Maybe I've lost my mind but," she sucks in a deep breath," here I am."

Klaus moves closer to her. There's an intensity in his eyes, one that makes Caroline's chest tighten and her heart race frantically, and he's literally a few inches away from her when he finally stops moving.

"I don't understand."

His breath fans her face, sweet and warm. Caroline closes her eyes.

"Neither do I. All I know is that, when they told me, all I could think about was your potential," she says quietly, "There's this light in you, Klaus, a light that I don't think you even realize is there."

When she opens her eyes, she can see that she's confused him. Well, that makes two of them.

"I thought of how sweet you've been, how genuinely capable you are of caring."

She bites her lip, silently asking for Bonnie's forgiveness.

"And I realized that, even though a part of me resents you- because, hell, you have a lot to make up for- there's another part of me that can't bare the though of losing you."

And it's true. As much as she hates it, as much as she's confused by it, it's there and she can't hide it anymore. Not now that his life is on the line. She sucks in another deep breath and meets his eyes.

"You once told me that you wanted to show me the world," she whispers, reaching down boldly and grabbing his hand in hers, "Well, come away with me. Today. Now."

She laughs then because, seriously, this has to be the craziest thing she's ever done before- ever- and shock registers on Klaus' face. His hand, slowly, hesitantly, grips hers tightly and a small smile begins to play on his lips.

"You are... serious?"

Caroline nods.

"As a heart attack. I don't know what we are Klaus, but I can't let you go without exploring it."

"And Tyler?"

Caroline grimaces, her heart flinching slightly, "I'll sort it."

He's going to hate her, she knows this, and the mere image of Tyler's dark eyes wounded and bitter makes her want to cry. She's made her bed though, she may as well lie in it.

Klaus looks as shocked as she's ever seen him and, under any other circumstances, Caroline might have laughed. She doesn't laugh now.

"I... Well, I suppose I'll have to tell Rebekkah?" he asks, looking wary. Caroline inclines her head again.

"Just hurry. They won't waste anytime now that they have a weapon."

Klaus shakes his head, but he doesn't move away from her. Their hands are still clasped, fingers overlapping and Caroline feels a heady warmness settle over her as Klaus licks his lips, eyes darting down to her mouth.

"Caroline..." he leans towards her, "Thank you."

"You're wel-"

His mouth descending over her own cuts her off mid-sentence and, really, she's not complaining. The kiss is overdue- well overdue- and his mouth is warm against hers, the pressure sweet. The kiss is short, over almost as fast as it began, but in the brief few seconds Caroline determines that the taste of Klaus- a tangy wine and dark spices- is her new favorite flavor.

He brushes a finger down her cheek, eyes soft and sweet, and leans down to give her one last, brief peck before he quite literally vanishes. Caroline blinks, breathes in deeply and moves towards the couch. She collapses onto it, a bundle of shaking nerves, and puts her head in her hands.

god, what has she gotten herself into?

She thinks of her friends- her ex friends because, seriously, she doubts they'll want to be BFF's now- and feels her stomach drop. She misses them already, really. What is she going to do without Bonnie; strong, clever Bonnie who always wipes her tears away when she's sad and slags anyone who annoys her. Or Elena; kind, sweet Elena who's always so forgiving. Her mother!

Heck, even Stefan and Damon.

Tears form in her eyes, but Caroline refuses to let them fall. She's a new person, a stronger person. She's not little girly Caroline Forbes anymore- she hasn't been for a long time- honestly, she's not sure who she is anymore.

She'll figure it out along the way. It might take awhile- a long while- but someday she knows she'll be able to recognize herself in the mirror again.

"Caroline."

She stands, turns, and smile a little.

Klaus is stood there, staring at her in that way that she's become so accustomed to; a carrier bag in one hand and his cell in the other.

"Are you ready to go?"

Is she? Truly? No, no way.

But she's going anyway.

"I am," she smiles, walking towards him, "Where are we going first?"

Her voice is giddy- much to her dismay- and Klaus' answering grin is both dazzling and unsettling. He knows she's excited to leave Mystic Falls- no matter how hard she may try to hide it- and she's certain he's going to keep her in suspense.

"Well, I was thinking of-"

He cuts of abruptly, looking confused and makes a low sound in the back of his throat. He's trying to turn, his hand scrabbling towards his chest, tugging at his shirt and Caroline watches in both perplexity and horror as he drops to his knees.

Her heart stops when she realizes that Damon's stood behind him and that...

... Oh my God, there's a stake protruding from his back.

"Caroline.." he chokes, reaching out towards her with one hand. Blood is spilling out of his mouth, trickling down his chin and Caroline lets out a strangled sob. She's at his side in an instant, stroking his hair back from his eyes. Tears finally brake free from her eyes and fall onto his face, mingling with the blood.

Damon's face is devoid of any mercy or sympathy. He curls his lip at her when she looks at him pleadingly.

"I called, blondie. You didn't answer."

She shrieks at him once, wordlessly, before turning her attention back to Klaus. His head is cradled on her lap and, please no, his skin is slowly but surely turning the papery grey of a corpse. He looks devastated.

"Remember, love." his voice is hoarse, heartbroken, but he somehow manages to smile, "Travel. See the world. Genuine beauty, sweet Caroline, waits for you outside of this dingy town."

He coughs, gasps and clutches her hand tighter in his own. There's real fright in his eyes and it makes Caroline sob harder.

"I-" he coughs, the light going out of his eyes, "... love you."

And that's when his body begins to burn.

Caroline screams again, ignoring the flames when they lick at her wrists and kicks and fights at the hands that wrap themselves around her limbs, pulling her away from his burning corpse. She's in hysterics, hyperventilating and her heart literally feels as though it's breaking.

"I'm sorry Caroline," surprisingly, it's Bonnie who's crouched in front of her, tear-stained and sympathetic, "I'm so, so sorry."

And then she wraps her in her arms so tightly that Caroline feels a few rips crack.

She doesn't fight, just stares over Bonnie's shoulder and stares numbly at Klaus' burning body. Once the witch lets her go, she stands; shakey, wobbly, but she's standing on her own two feet. She looks around her, at her friends, her sisters and feels nothing but numb as she looks at them.

"Don't look for me." she whispers softly.

She's gone before they even realize what she's talking about.

-0-

She travels. Lives.

She goes to Paris first- it's bittersweet, painful, since she always imagined he'd be here with her- then Rome, Tokyo;

Everywhere.

And everywhere she looks, in every content and country, she finds a little bit of Klaus waiting for her- including his siblings. They make their peace with each other, speak well of him, then depart. It's sad, heartbreaking for Caroline since they're so very like him and she's upset to see them go.

One thing that never changes- and that she's certain never will- though?

Klaus is always in her dreams.

And, really, she thinks he would appreciate that.

.

.

.

.

a/n:

i am a horrible person, but it had to be done. sorry.

.review, favourite and subscribe please!

-lolitaxo


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